Fossil Hunter

Fossil Hunter

by Robert J. Sawyer

Tor reprint edition, March 2005

ISBN 0-765-30793-4

Trade paperback

Picking up years after Far-Seer concludes, Fossil Hunter centers on Afsan's children. They were not culled by the Bloodpriests, thus putting Afsan in the unusual position of knowing who his children are. Afsan is now advisor to the emperor, Dybo, and one of his sons, Toroca, leads a survey team of Land. Like his father, Toroca makes another discovery about their civilization that turns their whole worldview upside down: evolution.

The second book of Sawyer's Quintaglio Ascension Trilogy is weaker than the first, but as a continuation of the first story's main arc it is logical and interesting. Unlike Far-Seer, Fossil Hunter has multiple story lines running through it.

The main story is Toroca's research, leading up to his theory of the true origin of their species, and it has nothing to do with God. There's another thread involving Afsan's children. They are unique in that they don't seem to have a territorial reflex. We also find out that the government is not completely fair. The rulers of each providence are actually of the same family. The church spared them from going through the culling, and the weakest member of the clutch was chosen to be emperor so the church could manipulate the government. When this is revealed, the people are outraged that the highest members of their own government do not obey their most sacred laws. Society begins to break down. The governor of a providence, Rodlox, claims to be the rightful emperor, and he wants his throne.

The final story line I want to discuss takes place from an awkward point of view. Its name is the Watcher. The Watcher appears early on in the book, and the introduction is jarring because all of a sudden the narration takes us from the inhabitants of the Quintaglio's moon to a first-person, omniscient view of the entire universe.

The Watcher is some non-corporeal being, and we deduce that the Watcher is responsible for transporting the Quintaglios (among others) from Earth to distant planets that were more suitable for them.

The Watcher is my only problem with this book. These musings are out of place and entirely unnecessary. We could've figured out what was going on without the Watcher's first-person account. Toroca discovers the wreckage of the alien spacecraft that transported life to their world, which means the Watcher's chapters only break the story's point of view. The series is supposed to take place from the dinosaurs' point of view. The Watcher uncomfortably takes the reader outside the story instead of letting the reader experience it for himself.

Furthermore, the very inclusion of an alien race creating their population takes the wind out of Toroca's discovery of evolution. Afsan took God out of the sky, as well as placed them on one planet among countless others. Toroca does discover evolution, but thanks to the Watcher we know the Quintaglios didn't really evolve, so it means very little.

By far the most interesting story is Rodlox's challenge. Afsan's solution to the problem, and to restore order to the people, is to recreate the culling on the royal family. Putting it in today's terms, this means dropping every state governor in a pit with a hungry, flesh-eating, feral dinosaur, and the last man standing gets to be president. It's extreme, and Afsan puts his friend's life on the line, but if it restores the people's faith in the system, it's worth it. This isn't cruel, or outrageous. It's a logical way for sentient dinosaurs to handle the situation. The final battle is epic, and the victor now deserves to be emperor.

As part of the trilogy, it continues the story very well. If I just forget about the Watcher, it's a great read. Oddly, this story actually makes more sense after reading Foreigner, the third book in the series.

Review written by James Steele